Effect of Early Clinical Exposure on Learning Motivation of Medical Students

Background:   Facing an unfamiliar environment is always one of the biggest concerns for medical students who are going to have clinical educations in medical fields. Recently early clinical exposure (ECE) for medical students has been proposed as an effective factor in reducing stress and motivating toward the rest of their education as a clinical student. This study aimed at evaluation of ECE effects on motivating Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences students. Methods: In a cross sectional survey, medical students in 2nd and 4th semesters were studied in the year 2012. 45 students filled the questionnaire and the results were analyzed by SPSS 19 . Results: Amongst 45 students, 25 persons (55.6%) were in 2nd semester while other 20(44.4%) were in the 4th. Most of the students (68.9%) believed that ECE improved their interest on continuation of their field of study. Women believed that ECE helped them in visualizing concepts (p=0.02) and remembering facts (p=0.03) about their medical lessons more than men. 2nd semester students believed more in the helpfulness of ECE in approving their visual concepts (p=0.02). Other important effects of ECE were stress reduction (42%), self steam increase and gaining better attitude about further clinical activities (each by 40%). Most of the students (77.8%) didn’t like to change their field. Conclusions:  According to the questionnaire analysis, the results showed that ECE can be an important and efficient factor in improving the motivation and can be a great help in the recall of knowledge in medical students.